Heidi Swapp Acrylic Paint

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Reported by Mary Chong

The first time I used Heidi Swapp Acrylic Paint was when I took a chipboard album class at my LSS Scrapalcious. We used the Jet Black version. Now, I have a love/hate relationship when it comes to painting on chipboard – especially in a 2-hour class situation. First, it’s messy and I likely just came from work and I’m not dressed in my civvies. Secondly, paint takes time to dry and you want to make sure that you get a nice even coat before you move onto the next stage. Now don’t get me wrong, I love paint, I just like to paint on my own terms in optimum conditions where I can put multiple coats on until it’s perfect and then leave it out to dry over night.

But I digress..

So, there I was at the class, painting away and here’s what I discovered…

The paint was nice and creamy, we squirted it out onto a paper plate but really, you could squeeze it right out of the tube and onto your brush.

The Jet Black is super black – not a wishy washy could be black but isn’t quite black – know what I mean? With the thickness of the paint came great coverage – it was opaque with no streaks or show through.

I was really impressed with the drying speed. PLUS when it dried it had a nice finish with a slight sheen to it.

Ultimately, I had no reason to worry about the painting because in 2 hours flat we created a fab 8-page album that fits in a box.

Here’s a close up of the paint on the project we made (the shiny finish looks great with the crispness of the black and white American Crafts paper)

After the class I had to buy some paint for my own stash (I’m a good customer and I’m easily persuaded). So, I picked up these colours - Betty (pink), Jet (black), bark (brown) and moss.

Next project I made with the paint was this girlie girl mini book (paper is Basic Grey Two Scoops).


I’m not really a pink kinda gal but the "Betty" (pink) colour is really nice – it isn’t baby pink - its much deeper and punchier similar to a fuchsia pink.

Now I wanted to show you what the paint looks like in a large area. So, I decided to paint a chipboard heart for a card. And, this is where I discovered something. On the other 2 projects I used a foam brush to apply the paint and in this instance I used an artist's hair brush. Can you see the brush strokes?? Disappointing but true - so, be warned. (Now a friend did say it kinda looked like leather - which I promptly said "Yes that's the look I was going for" but to be truthful I really wasn't)

Now, I haven’t told you how many colours the paint comes in and the reason is that I can’t find that information!

When visiting the Heidi Swapp website, the downloaded catalog for paint states that it comes in 9 colors. But looking through various online stores, I’ve counted 11 different colors mentioned. Plus, no ONE store seems to have the all the colors in stock.

• Bark
• Betty
• Butterscotch
• Crimson
• Cotton candy
• Icee
• Jet
• Moss
• Pumpkin
• Sea
• White

Pros:

• Tube stands up straight on a table
• Clear container so that you can see how much you have left in the tube
• Nice sheen
• Coordinates with the other Heidi Swapp items (if you like to be all matchie-poo like I do)
• Creamy texture not watery
• Great coverage
• Black is really black
• Cleans up with water
• Dries fast

Cons:

• Limited colour selection
• For adding some paint onto a layout, this paint is the perfect consistency but I found I needed to add a little bit of water when I was painting my chipboard – the paint was too thick.
• Due to the slight sheen to the paint when dry – it may not “suit” all tastes and moods of projects
• Watch out for brush strokes
• Limited stock in stores

All in all, I really like this product. I wish that it came in more colours and that I could get my hand on all of them.

I give it an 8 out of 10. It retails for $2.99 US at Scrapbook.com and $3.99 CAD at My Scrap Shoppe.com for a 2.5 oz tube.

Have you had similar experiences with this paint? Different experiences? We'd love to hear about them...leave us a comment and let us know.